Continued decline of the Yi App
I’ve been using Yi home cameras since 2017.
Back then they were the best budget home security cameras available, you bought the cameras, set them up, inserted an sd card, and they were good to go. No adverts, no pestering messages to upgrade, no need to set up an account, just quick easy access to your cameras, from your phone anywhere anytime.
Since then I have struggled with each iteration of the Yi Home app, as the app gets more complex with no practical improvement for the user. Each time I’ve been able to configure the cameras, around each app upgrade, but I’m getting tired of having to keep opting out of special offer emails from Kami, and reconfiguring my set up.
I’m still using the cameras, but today I find that I’m locked out of my cameras, without logging in to what appears to be a new attempt to get me to open a new account. I can only see a new login screen, no live pictures of my home.
Update December 2024:
Again I’ve got around the above problem, just like I have with all the other Kami ‘updates’. My cameras still save video images to my sd cards, and I get instant remote access to my cameras and video history.
Kami appear to be more interested in making more money out of users by continually making updates to the app which are of no practical use to the user. If you insert an sd card into your cameras, you won’t need cloud storage, unless you need to review images from weeks back.
Back then they were the best budget home security cameras available, you bought the cameras, set them up, inserted an sd card, and they were good to go. No adverts, no pestering messages to upgrade, no need to set up an account, just quick easy access to your cameras, from your phone anywhere anytime.
Since then I have struggled with each iteration of the Yi Home app, as the app gets more complex with no practical improvement for the user. Each time I’ve been able to configure the cameras, around each app upgrade, but I’m getting tired of having to keep opting out of special offer emails from Kami, and reconfiguring my set up.
I’m still using the cameras, but today I find that I’m locked out of my cameras, without logging in to what appears to be a new attempt to get me to open a new account. I can only see a new login screen, no live pictures of my home.
Update December 2024:
Again I’ve got around the above problem, just like I have with all the other Kami ‘updates’. My cameras still save video images to my sd cards, and I get instant remote access to my cameras and video history.
Kami appear to be more interested in making more money out of users by continually making updates to the app which are of no practical use to the user. If you insert an sd card into your cameras, you won’t need cloud storage, unless you need to review images from weeks back.
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Over 6 years
Ive had my yi camera for over 6 years when i first moved into my apt, ive since bought two more so now i have two in my livingroom to keep an eye on my dogs when im gone, and one for my front door so i can see whos at my door. I added a 64gb sd card in all of them and it records continuous for 2weeks in 2k, the night vision is really good, and the two newest cameras i got are the swivel ones so if i dont see my dogs in view i can adjust the camera view to see them from anywhere in the world, i can be two states away and still be able to see my dogs and talk to them if i needed to and move the camera angle. It was cool seeing the app change and adapt overtime too, at first it had a lot of small but annoying issues like 5 years ago you used to not be able to use the 10second rewind/fast forward button more than once or else it will actually put u back to live footage, so it was hard to go hack and rewatch footage especially when my neighbors ebike got stolen and i had to sift thru an entire days worth of footage to try to find someone taking his bike(a homeless guy took the ebike, my neighbor never got it back) but i made a review at the time and it was fixed within a year, and ive tried the cloud service and it is cool but for now the sd cards are working and are more affordable for me. Love this app, and the cameras and i feel a lot safer with them and little peace of mind to be able to see my dogs when im away from home.
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Continued decline of the Yi App
I’ve been using Yi home cameras since 2017.
Back then they were the best budget home security cameras available, you bought the cameras, set them up, inserted an sd card, and they were good to go. No adverts, no pestering messages to upgrade, no need to set up an account, just quick easy access to your cameras, from your phone anywhere anytime.
Since then I have struggled with each iteration of the Yi Home app, as the app gets more complex with no practical improvement for the user. Each time I’ve been able to configure the cameras, around each app upgrade, but I’m getting tired of having to keep opting out of special offer emails from Kami, and reconfiguring my set up.
I’m still using the cameras, but today I find that I’m locked out of my cameras, without logging in to what appears to be a new attempt to get me to open a new account. I can only see a new login screen, no live pictures of my home. I’ll get round this problem, but, why do Kami do this?
I can only assume Kami are more interested in making more money out of users by continually making updates to the app which are no practical use to the user. You are forced to actively opt out of offers and adverts, and eventually this business model will fail, which will be a pity as the cameras are actually a very good product.
Back then they were the best budget home security cameras available, you bought the cameras, set them up, inserted an sd card, and they were good to go. No adverts, no pestering messages to upgrade, no need to set up an account, just quick easy access to your cameras, from your phone anywhere anytime.
Since then I have struggled with each iteration of the Yi Home app, as the app gets more complex with no practical improvement for the user. Each time I’ve been able to configure the cameras, around each app upgrade, but I’m getting tired of having to keep opting out of special offer emails from Kami, and reconfiguring my set up.
I’m still using the cameras, but today I find that I’m locked out of my cameras, without logging in to what appears to be a new attempt to get me to open a new account. I can only see a new login screen, no live pictures of my home. I’ll get round this problem, but, why do Kami do this?
I can only assume Kami are more interested in making more money out of users by continually making updates to the app which are no practical use to the user. You are forced to actively opt out of offers and adverts, and eventually this business model will fail, which will be a pity as the cameras are actually a very good product.
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Cannot share to family member
Can’t share to family members also using Yi Home using a different Geo location
Mum uses USA, but cannot share cameras set up for NZ.
Tried and got different error messages (not the same user/expired QR/error) even though I’ve set it up with specific email addresses and deleted and reset up cameras AND share QR codes.
Frustrating to use. Will most likely upgrade to better service and non Yi product.
Mum uses USA, but cannot share cameras set up for NZ.
Tried and got different error messages (not the same user/expired QR/error) even though I’ve set it up with specific email addresses and deleted and reset up cameras AND share QR codes.
Frustrating to use. Will most likely upgrade to better service and non Yi product.
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Awful
Only been using this camera for 7 months, when I started it was pretty slim on what you could do with it now it’s pointless having unless you want to pay a subscription, now I don’t get notifications if someone is in front of the camera nor does it save it so I can see who it was. I love when company’s do this thinking they are bigger than what they are…. Give it 5 years this company will be bust. Why would I pay for basic features? Would much rather pay the extra for a ring camera then this awful service. Please if you are thinking about buying one of these cameras DONT! just look at these reviews of customer’s opinions, they clearly don’t take notice of them just money grabbers….bye bye yi hello ring :) ads now run this app and by the time you’ve got to your camera through all the ads the person is gone to pretty pointless
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Rip off
Didn’t realize when I bought these cameras that you’d have to pay a monthly fee for EACH CAMERA!!!!
DO NOT BUY
The app for their cameras is AWFUL. You are forced to see ads every time you open the app to view the cameras you paid for! They also send ads as notifications to your phone. And if you want to use an SD card instead of their expensive cloud plan there is a red EXPIRED label on your cam videos that never goes away.
This camera was decent 6 years ago before they implemented all these awful changes. It’s not worth it now.
Invest in something better. They don’t even care about all their negative reviews about all these issues.
This camera was decent 6 years ago before they implemented all these awful changes. It’s not worth it now.
Invest in something better. They don’t even care about all their negative reviews about all these issues.
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Absurdly obstructive ads
With one of the new updates you now can’t event react to notifications about movement detected without going through the the very intrusive advertisement screen. It is even worse because the link letting you view pathetic 6 seconds of recording so small that it might take several taps to work. And after seeing a recording you’ll be nagged again with a push to buy cloud storage.
The best user experience ever.
The best user experience ever.
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"Free Trial" is not really free!!
I've been using the free version since I bought the camera, and was considering getting the subscription. I do like the camera overall and figured i'd try the free trial for the base plan to see if I wanted to use it - it is NOT free. You get 7 days "free" but it automatically signs you up for auto-renew once the 7 days are over and they give you NO easy way to cancel the subscription so it doesn't charge you after the trial period. It prompts you to log in to the website to cancel the plan, then you have to either call or email. If you call, it's hard to reach a real person and you end up having to email anyways. Then you have to say you want to cancel three times before you ever get real help (which I still haven't gotten any real help.) They sent me instructions to cancel through paypal, but since I hadn't technically been charged yet, I can't cancel it on my own as it isn't showing up in my auto subscriptions yet. So i'm supposed to wait to get charged $40 to cancel? No thanks. What a bad business practice.
They need to make cancelling subscriptions way easier like other apps do, otherwise it's just unethical.
They need to make cancelling subscriptions way easier like other apps do, otherwise it's just unethical.
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Nothing but crashes
This app crashes on launch - even on the latest version; what good is functionality when app never works? Are these developers ignoring feedback?
